On my Chromebook I installed Kubuntu last year and internal speakers would not work at all, but when I plugged a HDMI cable in I had sound over the speakers in the monitor.
What if you try HDMI to something with speakers?

Had a problem with the BIOS and had to reinstall ChromeOS to fix, then installed GalliumO (custom Chrombook Ubuntu) and now internal speakers work, but not over HDMI.
Linux audio can be a bugger to get working right.

Could try a live version ans see if sound works, and if so what settings and drivers it is using.

you would need $(ls -al) to show hidden files... aka "."asoundrc

It's possible that you're running two pulseaudio instances and one is blocking the other. Or you ran pulseaudio as root and it changed permissions. A fresh install and trying again would most times fix either scenario fast and easy. Just make sure audio isn't muted and the user is in the audio group. If you use the distro's installer that part is normally taken care of by the installer.

Personally I never find a fresh install fast - I have to get a CD etc.
Saying that I think that might be the solution
Shows that it is only running once

debootstrap

How I install my .deb based distro(s). Not for the meek as you assume various admin steps in that process. Not limited to setting a root password, adding a user, installing a bootable kernel, setting up /etc/fstab manually, and installing and configuring the bootloader. But you start with a minimal system and add the bloat you desire. And since you're doing the install in a chroot with an existing install, you already have networking setup on the host. So you can install any firmware, github drivers, and such BEFORE you ever boot your install for the first time. Takes me about 20 minutes to be booted to it, in X, and running a web browser. Where it would take me more than an hour just to download a CD/DVD ISO image.

If your install has some age to it, you might have run pulseaudio as root. Which would change the /run/user/$UID/pulse owner:group information to root, which the user doesn't have access to. It could also create older .config files for $HOME/.pulse* or /.pulse*, which at a minimum GET IN THE WAY. The current generation pulse looks in $HOME/.config/pulse/ for it's configuration stuffs. Sometimes stopping pulse, deleting those configs and starting pulse again fixes things. But a lot of those quirks are more easily (and quickly) fixed with a fresh install. Alternatively create another user, reboot, log in as that user and see if the issue(s) go away. Using useradd/adduser (depending on distro) and don't forget to add that user to the audio group (and sometimes pulse group). But again, something more easily solved by new or even average users by doing a fresh install (using the distros installer).

1 members found this post helpful.

I fixed it by
a)upgrading it to the latest Kubuntu
b) going to
"
https://forum.manjaro.org/t/pulseaud...device/33087/7
see
I had what appears to be a similar problem: some headphones with a microphone, and I could not get the mic and the headphones to work at the same time. The microphone worked, but not the headphones.

Eventually, I figured out that that I had to change PulseAudio Volume Control > Configuration > Profile > [my headphones] > Analog Stereo Output + Analog Mono Input (notice the “+” in “Analog Stereo Output + Analog Mono Input”. I believe it defaulted to “Analog Stereo Output.”

Could something similar be what’s going on with your system, kimal?"

I went to configuration and changed the built in audio until it worked.